Our special culinary moments – both “out and about” and at home.

Triple Stop Tour

LICK – via Mister Tramps and East End Wines-for best viewing, view from the site EatSipSwirl.com – especially for our email-viewing friends.

You know it is summer when you find yourself at 7:00pm on a Friday night craving a cold treat. We had just finished having dinner with my parents at Papa’s favorite sports pub, Mister Tramps. The boys have joined my dad before for fish and chips at this spot and to watch soccer. Sorry I did not take any pictures. We all ordered fish and chips – batter fried cod fillet served in a basket with French fries, slaw and tartar sauce. It was good – the Brit in all of us smiled.

On our way out the door, Marc and I decided to take a short road trip around Austin.

First to East End Wines for their Cleto Chiarli Lambrusco tasting. Of the four wines, we had tried two before. Our favorite is the Cleto Chiarli Lambrusco Pruno Nero. We first experienced this wine at Wink when it accompanied a dish of beef tartare. The Cleto Chiarli Lambrusco Brut Rose Spumante also made it to the register with us. A more delicate drink, the Rose will be nice to have on hand for the hot days ahead.

Lick: Honest Ice Creams, is a small ice cream shop that prides itself in using fresh, local ingredients for all of their small batch ice creams. The list of local farms and food artisans that they partner with is impressive, and you can definitely taste the care taken to make “honest” ice cream in the combinations of flavors that go into their ice creams. Some selections are “Every Day” flavors, while others are seasonal. They also offer gluten-free and vegan varieties.

Here are the selections that we enjoyed today, along with the descriptions from Lick’s website.Dark Chocolate with Olive Oil and Sea Salt- Buttery notes from Texas Olive Ranch Olive Oil and sea salt shine through this dark chocolate flavor.

Milk Chocolate — Local Great Bean chocolate and the finest milk and cream churned to classic perfection!

Caramel Salt Lick —Salty and sweet make it official! Homemade caramel is elevated with just a hint of sea salt.

As you can see, we all picked different flavors, and all were amazing. Everyone in our family gives LICK a big “thumbs up” (or should I say a big “lick of the tongue”). I will mention here that the store is pretty small. We were really lucky. We arrived shortly before 8:00pm and walked straight up to the counter just as a large party was exiting. By the time we sat down (there are only a few stools available), the line had 20 people in it. Our very nice server told us that about 8:00pm, the line starts growing – right out the door!

I wish I could remember the cute saying on the LICK t-shirt that the servers were wearing – I would post it here. I guess that means we will just have to venture down to South Austin again this summer.